Scientists have created a map showing where people do and don’t mind being touched on their body.
The joint survey between researchers at Oxford university and Finland’s Aalto University asked 1,300 people where they would be comfortable being touched, and by whom, according to The Independent.
Their results were compiled into a body-map index and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in America (PNAS).
The research found that overall men are far more comfortable with being touched than women, except for when it came to being touched by another male friend.
And perhaps unsurprisingly, men said they are more comfortable with a female stranger touching any part of their bodies, including genitals, than by a relative – you should hope so too, really.
Alternatively, the majority of women were only comfortable with male strangers touching their hands – but women were generally happier than men to be touched most places on their bodies by male and female friends.
The Finnish and British scientists asked a range of participants from Britain, Finland, Italy, Russia and France to colour areas on the body where they were and weren’t happy with being touched.
Researcher Julia Suvilehto from Aalto University said the results showed touch was “an important means of maintaining social relationships. The greater the pleasure caused by touching a specific area of the body, the more selectively we allow others to touch it.”
Oxford researcher Robin Dunbar told The Telegraph:
We interpret touch depending on the context of the relationship.
We may perceive a touch in a particular place from a relative or friend as a comforting gesture, while the same touch from a partner might be more pleasurable, and from a stranger it would be entirely unwelcome.
So there you go, keep your hands to yourself if you don’t know someone, you perv.
